


seasons of you(th)

by averyblue



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Developing Relationship, Friendship/Love, M/M, Side Wonkyun, aged-up teacher!Shownu, mild cameo of hyungwon's unrequited crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averyblue/pseuds/averyblue
Summary: feelings bubble up like the fizz of soda popfresh and volatile like the spring of their youthflowery and unpredictable like their wordsfamiliarand at the same timenot(like each and every one of their kisses)





	seasons of you(th)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yawawoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawawoo/gifts).



> a belated birthday gift for yawawoo!!! this is based on her favorite manga, 'doukyuusei' (it's really nice and it also has a movie for anyone interested!)

_Summer 20XX – 2_ _ nd _ _Year – Gwangju_

* * *

 

music festival, huh.

minhyuk doesn’t think practicing for it is the best way to spend thursdays on summer break. like, it’s unfair! why did they think it’s a good idea to take precious days from their students’ vacation just for some festival? “traditions are traditions,” their homeroom teacher has said, even though he’s the lucky bastard who won’t participate since he isn’t even going to teach them (and minhyuk doubts he even knows how to sing, wheezy old man voice and all).

instead of him, they have son seonsaengnim, the homeroom-less music teacher for seniors with a singing voice as rich as caramel. or so that’s what most of his classmates say anyway; minhyuk has never heard the man dish out a few notes… yet.

the class president is an idiot who chose a piece that has a lot of soprano and alto parts.  but son seonsaengnim calmly says it’s doable and manages to shift pitches to suit their class. it shouldn’t be a problem, really, if only they weren’t in an all-boys school.

 

 ~

 

practice takes place in the music room. it’s a bit cramped, they’re twenty students in one class, but luckily most of them know how to pay attention to son seonsaengnim when he instructs them. maybe it’s his slightly intimidating (or appealing?) burly physique, or maybe it’s his suit that calls for respect, but minhyuk thinks it’s because of how considerate he is to teach them and how composed he is even in a room that reeks of teenage testosterone.

(and the rumors _are_ true about his singing voice. his vocal tone is smooth and rich and cool and just as powerful as kihyun’s, but kihyun’s only minhyuk’s age and his friend clearly strives to enchant all ears when he reaches son seonsaengnim’s age)

the man sits by the piano and points at the blackboard. “read the notes on the board if you need. or just give it your best shot. it’s only our second practice but if you still want, you can always hum first.”

surprisingly, no one hums. everyone’s lips are moving, pronouncing, _singing_ , and minhyuk can hear them all. tone-deaf kim. raspy choi. gentle park. high-pitched kang. baritone jeon. it motivates him more to sing louder and smile while at it, because minhyuk does love singing and does love music. choir isn’t his thing, it’s not like band practice or karaoke with his friends, but it’s nice to hear his classmates do after last week’s bout of croaks. a part of him believes they’re actually enjoying themselves.

but he realizes he’s mistaken when he turns to his left.

chae hyungwon’s lips are moving, but minhyuk hears nothing but his breaths.

 

 

 

~~

 

Hyungwon _knows_ how to read musical notes, considering all the years of piano lessons he’s taken. He just doesn’t know how to vocalize them after a few run-throughs. Of course, they just had their second practice earlier, and Hyunwoo seonsaengnim said it’s okay to hum, but Hyungwon didn’t want to seem like the only one who didn’t try to sing. It’s even more daunting that he had been assigned to stand next to Lee Minhyuk, of all people, who’s popular for being a vocalist in some band.

He shakes the thought. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s alone in the closed sunlit classroom, alone with his things by his table and the sheet notes in his hands.

Only the wind and the walls will hear him. He takes a deep breath.

 

~~

 

 

 

“where are you going, minhyuk?”

“ah,” he calls back. “forgot my lunch bag.”

“is it okay if i go on ahead?”

“sure, man. see you tomorrow!”

“mhmm.”

he runs all the way to the second floor of the building. he’s only remembered it now because of how his stomach had grumbled while he walked outside the room with younghyun, and then he remembered he had kimbap in his lunch box, and then he remembered not carrying it all the way. he’s glad kihyun studies in another school, because the guy would scold minhyuk for being forgetful and link said forgetfulness to his fucked up sleeping habits. not like he has insomnia or anything, but minhyuk’s brain prefers churning out great ideas in the evening. great ideas like their next performance outfits, especially-

“...flowers in bloom… in bloom… like flowers in bloom…”

someone’s singing in the classroom, and minhyuk knows he hasn’t heard this voice earlier in practice.

creeping slowly to the wall next to the classroom’s partially opened door, minhyuk spots chae hyungwon perched on a desk at the back, holding bundles of paper he assumes to be their piece’s sheet music or printed lyrics. his droopy eyes are narrowed as he stares at the paper in his hands, repeating the same line over and over and over again, his slim figure like a shadow against the afternoon setting sunlight.

 _his voice isn’t bad_ , minhyuk thinks, but maybe it’s because he’s singing a tad bit softly. hyungwon finally moves to another line after a few seconds, and minhyuk listens as he repeats it again, varying tempos and pitches, huffing in between lyrics when he vocalized wrong. he _does_ need the practice, and at least he’s trying, because minhyuk has concluded that his voice isn’t bad at all. it’s mellowy, a bit low, and

 

 _i’m an idiot_.

 

the door slams open with a loud thud, startling hyungwon enough to almost make him topple off the desk. minhyuk hasn’t realized he’s been clutching the sliding door until now that he slides down along it. he quickly raises his hands, culprit caught in the act, as hyungwon gapes at him with wide eyes.

“h-hey,” minhyuk greets with awkward chipperness, slightly waving with his right hand as he fixes his stance. 

“oh... minhyuk-ssi,” hyungwon replies softly. _drop the honorific_ , it makes minhyuk feel old. (but technically, he is older than hyungwon by a few months… right? regardless, they’re classmates, and hyungwon’s formality gives minhyuk the heebie-jeebies.)

“i forgot something,” minhyuk says, pointing at his desk. underneath it is his lunch bag, and soon enough his stomach makes that soft grumbly gurgling noise.

“ah.”

he can feel hyungwon’s eyes on him as he grabs his lunch bag. most likely because minhyuk has decided to tiptoe inside even though he doesn’t have to. ugh, hyungwon probably thinks he’s a freak now or something.

“so that was yours.”

“yeah... pretty dumb of me to forget, huh?”

hyungwon shakes his head. “not really.”

the reassurance makes minhyuk smile.

and speechless. he’s never really talked to hyungwon before, even though they’ve been classmates for more than two years now. their social circles are different, but minhyuk admittedly doesn’t consider anyone in his class close friends so he doesn’t have a fixed group to hang out with. his bandmates, his real best friends, all study in different schools - kihyun, jooheon, and hoseok in the public school a bus ride away from their subdivision, changkyun in some nerdy science middle school - and hyungwon… minhyuk doesn’t know who hyungwon hangs out with.

come to think of it, minhyuk doesn’t know a lot about hyungwon at all. he isn’t a wallflower, per se, and he’s known enough by most to get winning votes last year in the school’s annual _prince of gwangju_ contest. they have conversed...maybe thrice? and those were related to school too? minhyuk guesses that falls on his shortcomings in interacting with most of his classmates.

he catches a glimpse of the papers in hyungwon’s hands. sheet music, confirmed, and minhyuk finds himself stepping closer out of curiosity, seeing the array of pencil marks at the edges of the front page.

“you mark your sheet music,” minhyuk whispers, seeing notations with their respective solfège written on top.

“yeah. habit.”

 

_note to self, pretty funny habit. weird and cool._

 

“you know, there’s a short pause between these two words,” he continues, pointing at the lyrics near the bottom of the paper. he glances at hyungwon, whose eyebrows are furrowed and raised, his dark brown eyes staring back at minhyuk’s own 

he tears away from the eye contact. he isn’t used to it. instead he points at the sheet music again. “see there? that’s a rest.”

“i know that,” hyungwon quips back. thankfully, there are no hints of annoyance in his voice. minhyuk doesn’t want to be in anyone’s bad side just because of musical notations. “i… just have a hard time with… timing when it comes to singing.”

“nothing to be ashamed of,” minhyuk replies with a small smile. he looks up at hyungwon again, their eyes meeting for a moment, and this time it’s hyungwon who looks away first. “hard to practice without a guide too. i mean, son seonsaengnim only improvised for our piece.”

“...yeah…”

“you could ask him to teach you?” he tries. hyungwon slowly shakes his head, eyes fixed on the papers in his hands.

“no, i don’t want to bother him more.” an inhale. exhale. his fingers lightly clutch the sheets, and minhyuk can see crumple lines form underneath the tips of hyungwon’s digits. “could you… sing it for me, though?”

minhyuk’s eyes widen as he blinks, surprised at the request. “me?”

hyungwon’s eyes shut and his lips press together. minhyuk isn’t sure if it’s out of embarrassment from his request or frustration over minhyuk’s response.

“it’s okay if you don’t want to. i’ll just pay more attention next time,” hyungwon sighs.

“no, no! it’s cool, i’ll sing it. i was just confused, sorry,” minhyuk quickly says.

“i’d just like a reference to follow,” hyungwon says. “i had a hard time earlier because i can feel everyone else’s singing is off.”

and minhyuk laughs softly. it’s true. most of his classmates sucked at singing the latter parts of the piece, and it’s why son seonsaengnim did ponder whether he should make their class meet twice a week instead. but the man is considerate - “one day seems too much already.” at least _he_ gets it.

“yeah, can’t blame you, i think i went off-tune too when sungpil’s voice cracked earlier.”

“it did?”

“yeah! pretty funny, you should’ve heard it,” minhyuk snickers.

the corner of hyungwon’s lips curl up slightly. minhyuk’s only realized how thick his lips look up close.

“wish i heard it, but i guess i was too preoccupied with how i couldn’t follow the song.”

“oh, right, you asked me to sing,” minhyuk says. he doesn’t like the hint of helplessness in hyungwon’s tone. no one deserves to feel this sad over dumb choir practice for some dumb festival.

he slides closer to hyungwon, glancing at the sheet music. he remembers the tone, not so much the lyrics, and begins tracing the paper while bits of the song flow from his lips. after he reaches the last line present in the page, he asks hyungwon if he’d like another repetition.

a nod in reply. minhyuk complies and sings again. it’s a melancholic song, carrying a metaphor of falling out of love by describing a flower’s growth to withering. it doesn’t click with minhyuk much because the festival is on the second week of their second term, and the last thing he wants is to start another semester, still during summer, with some sad song that fits winter or a bad rainy day.

he asks hyungwon to try after his fourth repetition. there’s a short lag before hyungwon answers, almost as though his mind has been floating while minhyuk sang. god, he wishes hyungwon didn’t space out, because he honestly doesn’t want to repeat the sad, sad lyrics again.

he waits as hyungwon takes back the page and stares at it, shuts his eyes, and takes a deep breath.

and he sings the tune perfectly.

“whoa, you got it,” minhyuk grins, clapping his hands together. “you’re a pretty fast learner!”

“without our classmates around, yeah.”

“and your voice is really nice too, and i’m not saying it to butter you up or anything. it’s true,” minhyuk adds. hyungwon’s voice fits smooth, slow songs, but of course he has more potential than just that. minhyuk wonders if he’s had vocal lessons before or if he’s aware that his voice is good.

the tips of his ears go pink. “thanks,” hyungwon sheepishly says.

“ah, no biggie,” he smiles back. “d’you want me to teach you more?”

minhyuk did not expect that to leave his mouth.

hyungwon blinks at him. and blinks. and blinks. now minhyuk feels too self-conscious. that sounds too forward for his liking. they’re not even friends! why the hell did his mouth offer without consulting his brain?

“y-you’d be okay teaching me? really?”

hyungwon’s eyes are on him again. expectant. dark brown.

his mouth ajar. plump lips. pale.

“yeah.”

pale, plump lips curl into a bashful smile. dark brown eyes hide behind squinted eyelids. round cheeks lift up from his slim face.

chae hyungwon looks handsome when he smiles.

“thank you, minhyuk-ssi.”

 

~

 

“vocal coach minhyuk,” jooheon sniggers.

“sounds funny,” kihyun laughs. 

“shut up,” minhyuk huffs, adjusting his guitar strap on his shoulder. he sees jooheon make grabby hands at his direction, and he tosses the nearby drumsticks a bit more forcefully. “can we please start practice now?”

“one thing, though,” changkyun interrupts, not flinching at all at the sound of clattering drumsticks and jooheon’s angry yell. “why didn’t you correct him when he called you minhyuk-ssi?”

“i… we’re not close.”

“so this is your way to get close to the guy?” hoseok says with a smug look. minhyuk rolls his eyes at how the older boy is wiggling his eyebrows and wishes he threw the drumsticks at him instead.

 

 

 

~~

 

Lee Minhyuk is a good singer, but Hyungwon didn’t know until now that Lee Minhyuk is kinder than he looks. He’s all smiles in school, sure, also well-known for being in a band and for being a talented member of the school archery team, but that doesn’t mean he passes Hyungwon’s radar for nice people. 

It’s honestly hard to tell. Lee Minhyuk is pretty sociable, pretty helpful, pretty eager, pretty loud, but at the same time Hyungwon can feel the guy isn’t truly close with the rest of their classmates. But it’s not like Hyungwon isn’t the same.

Maybe that’s why he’s been skeptical of Lee Minhyuk this way. Because he sees a bit of himself in the guy, the bit he wishes he could let go of with how much it bothers him.

Hyungwon never planned to attend this school to begin with. He wanted to be with his friends, and he has to deal with knowing they’re all together and away from him. His current classmates are nice and he does enjoy their company, but they don’t fully click with him. They barely know him outside the awards his appearance has brought him or the number of naps he takes in a day. They talk to him, but never reach out to him. A pity this is supposedly a norm for boys.

But then, Lee Minhyuk has extended his hand (or rather, has lent his voice) to help Hyungwon out. He’s not blind - the guy probably noticed how he struggled with singing despite his decent voice.

He shouldn’t get ahead of himself, though, especially because Lee Minhyuk is still a stranger.

 

~~

 

 

 

they agree to meet on thursdays, just right after practice with son seonsaengnim. it’s easier for the both of them, especially because minhyuk doesn’t want to leave his neighborhood twice a week just for that choir thing. once is already too much. granted, kihyun says minhyuk isn’t doing anything apart from playing videogames and practicing for the band, so spending a ‘day off’ is ‘good for him’. “you don’t even help hoseok hyung in composing,” his best friend had chortled. (takes one to know one; only changkyun and jooheon help hoseok write lyrics anyway.) 

and so he finds himself sitting by the benches at the hidden courtyard of the school, body slumped as he taps his foot on the tiled walkway, hyungwon sitting at the bench across him while seemingly gaping a hole at his sheet music again.

the silence between them hurts his ears. he taps the ground a bit louder.

“is that a habit?”

minhyuk looks up at him. he doesn’t sound mad, but now minhyuk feels bad for making it seem like he’s impatient. “sorry,” he tries. “quiet doesn’t sit well with me.”

“you must be used to drumming all the time,” hyungwon says. which minhyuk doesn’t get.

“um, i guess i’m used to drums. just not playing them,” he says, complete with an awkward laugh. god, why is small talk so hard? “drums are my worst instrument.”

“oh. wow.” hyungwon lowers his head, but it’s too late - minhyuk’s seen his eyes almost fall from their sockets. “sorry.”

“what’re you sorry for?”

“i thought you played drums in your band,” hyungwon explains.

minhyuk nods slowly, slowly, and it finally sinks in. hyungwon does look like the kind of guy who doesn’t follow the local band scene. and they aren’t even that popular, so he gets it.

“ah, no, i’m not good,” he admits. “my foot gets tired easily.”

“oh.”

and they’re wrapped in silence once again, but the rhythm he had set in his mind is fogged up by self-consciousness. he isn’t sure what he really feels about all this right now. in fact, he’s still not sure _why_ he offered. he didn’t even tell his friends that it had been such a spur of the moment thing. not that they’d say he’s weird, but they’d totally think it. (minus changkyun, bless the smart and weirder kid.)

“um, so.” minhyuk’s head springs up, and he tries to stop himself from flinching due the sudden pain on his neck. “the verse.”

hyungwon’s finger traces the upper half of the page he’s holding before sighing.

“just remember how i sang yesterday,” minhyuk says. he almost pushes himself off the bench to sit next to hyungwon, but hesitation weighs his body back to sitting down. he watches hyungwon nod slowly, the taller boy’s gaze fixed on the papers in his hands, before he shuts his eyes tightly. it makes minhyuk wonder if hyungwon feels self-conscious singing.

and the younger boy starts singing the same line from yesterday, his voice still soft but steadier than what minhyuk has first heard from him. but some parts come off monotonous, others softer than the other. still, minhyuk lets him sing until his set extent, out of politeness and admittedly, out of appreciation.

because there’s something he likes in hyungwon’s voice – it’s not as powerful as kihyun’s or as gentle as hoseok’s, and nowhere near as charming or as husky as his own. he can’t really _say_ right now, and if hyungwon can sing a little louder, maybe it’d be easier for him to pinpoint what exactly draws minhyuk in. he’s not exactly a vocal specialist either, which only piles another mystery above his first hyungwon-related question: _why did i volunteer to help him out?_

“uh… is it okay?” _shit_ , minhyuk’s doing terrible in this coaching thing. he’s been caught up in his thoughts that he hasn’t listened to hyungwon’s singing. well,  he has listened to the quality of hyungwon’s voice (as much as he can take from such soft singing), but not the way he sings the lyrics.

“…is it okay if you repeat?” minhyuk asks, hoping that hyungwon doesn’t realize he hasn’t paid full attention.

hyungwon obliges and starts singing again, eyes open and gaze resting on the sheet music, voice still as soft as ever. but minhyuk keeps his ears sharp now, he can at least try hard enough and not half-ass helping hyungwon because hyungwon is really, really trying his best. for what reason, minhyuk doesn’t know, and he’d rather not bother lest he wants another mystery above his hyungwon-question pile. and this time around, minhyuk appreciates hyungwon’s diction and spots parts that he can do better. he falters at some parts with pitches a tad lower or syllables a tad slower, but they’re nothing small tips can’t remedy. hyungwon has already given minhyuk a heads-up that he picks up things fast.

“okay,” minhyuk says, rubbing his palms together, before finally standing up and sitting next to his classmate. hyungwon remains still as he lowers his sheets onto his lap. “may i?”

minhyuk points at the pencil on the other boy’s hands, and hyungwon hands it over immediately.

“you gotta put more emphasis on this part,” minhyuk says, encircling a bunch of notes lightly. “i mean, if you’re really into this.”

“really into what?” hyungwon raises a brow.

“singin’ for the festival.”

hyungwon looks back at the sheet notes and bites his lip. “uh. i... no?”

minhyuk laughs. “look, i know you can tell i’m super upset with the festival and all, but you don’t have to agree with me.”

“it’s not that,” hyungwon replies. his brows furrow. “do i look like i’m into this?”

“well.” minhyuk shrugs. “you’re the only one i see putting this much effort into singing.”

he doesn’t expect that to make hyungwon smile. it starts out as a small curl of the lips, then into an obvious smile, and slowly it’s a full-blown grin… of disbelief. “oh. oh god. no, you have it all wrong,” he laughs nervously. “i just don’t want to get called out because i suck at singing.”

“you don’t suck at singing, please,” minhyuk replies. _i like your voice._ “your voice is okay.”

“it’s not that.” hyungwon sighs. “i go off-pitch a lot.”

“not that much. maybe twice.” hyungwon looks at him with a raised brow, and minhyuk can’t help but chuckle. hyungwon’s known in class for making pretty funny faces, but this is the first time he sees it up close. “okay, okay, maybe thrice.”

hyungwon cocks his head slightly, brow still raised, lips pressed tightly . “fine. you had five mistakes. no sugarcoating this time.”

the taller boy laughs softly. “thanks for being honest.”

“i don’t think son seonsaengnim would call you out for your mistakes, though,” minhyuk continues. “he seems nice. at least, that’s what the upperclassmen tell me.”

“i know he’s nice. it’s not his call-outs that i’m worried of.”

“our classmates are way more tone-deaf than you are.”

“doesn’t make them less ruthless,” hyungwon says.

minhyuk nods. he gets it. being in an all-boys school means dealing with insults for jokes. at best, one learns how to tolerate them, but at worst, one crumbles from them or starts cracking them at others. and while minhyuk can’t call himself a saint among his classmates, he knows when to stop while the others usually don’t.

he gets why hyungwon would be bothered. just because the rest don’t know how to sing doesn’t mean they won’t ridicule someone who does better. it’s easier to laugh at others’ mistakes, after all.

“you can always tell them off,” minhyuk tries. “you’re, like, one of the popular students in class.”

“because they like laughing at my face,” hyungwon replies.

“they’re just insecure, mr. prince of gwangju.” minhyuk nudges hyungwon’s shoulder with his own, and hyungwon looks at him with a smile.

“well, i’m used to them laughing when i make faces, but i’d rather their laughter stay directed at my face than my voice,” hyungwon chuckles.

 _even his laugh sounds nice_. minhyuk smiles.

“if they do laugh at you, then i'll tell them off. they won’t dare say anything if _i_ challenge them to a sing-off,” minhyuk offers with a snort. hyungwon’s grin grows wider, and minhyuk wonders on the duality of hyungwon’s charming smile and goofy faces.


End file.
